Over a few weeks, several training sessions for the candidates’ selection and preparation were organised and Mar Luna Manteca has been eventually chosen to participate in the grand finale.
The local FORTHEM office at the University of València has actively collaborated with the Doctoral School to select the UV representative who will participate in the grand finale of the ‘FORTHEM Researcher Grand Prix’ scientific dissemination competition, which this year is being organised in Dijon by the University of Burgundy, winner of the previous edition.
As part of this collaboration, several training sessions have been organised by Isabel Mendoza, Vanessa Roger and Gonçal López-Pampló, UV professors and experts in scientific communication, design and public speaking. During these sessions, candidates received specific training in content selection, design strategies to achieve better communication skills, and stage and rhetorical skills.
The first session, prior to the 2nd Ph Thesis Dissemination Day, held on 26 September, was aimed at the 16 candidates selected by the UV Doctoral School from among over 60 applicants who applied. At this first meeting, in addition to the training itself, the candidates had the opportunity to meet each other and discuss their research topics.
On 6 October, the second training session took place, aimed solely at the three finalists of the 2nd UV Thesis Dissemination Day: Mar Luna Manteca, Eva Navarro Ortega and Lola Giner Pérez. For this session, we were honoured to have the Vice-Rector for Internationalisation and Multilingualism, Carles Padilla, and the Head of International Relations and Cooperation, Carlos Pomer, in attendance. During the session, the finalists had to give a presentation in English, following the format of the FORTHEM Researcher Grand Prix, and the winner was finally selected: Mar Luna Manteca, who will represent the University of Valencia in the grand finale to be held on 6 November at the University of Burgundy in the French city of Dijon.
Next Monday, 20 October, the last training session will take place, addressed exclusively at Mar Luna Manteca, as the UV's representative in the grand finale, in which she will receive personalised training from the three professors in order to finalise her presentation and prepare for the final on the 6th.
Finally, in the first week of November, our representative will travel to Dijon to participate in the grand finale, accompanied by one of her trainers, Isabel Mendoza. There they will have the opportunity to do several rehearsals and polish any last-minute details before the final performance.
The grand finale can be streamed from any device, and the UV will also set up a room at Espai Vives where we can gather to watch the event live and cheer on our representative together.
